Minister receives Gas Standards Committee report

Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources John Browne was today presented with the 2003 Activity Report of the Gas Technical Standards Committee (GTSC).

Accepting the report, the Minister stated that it was particularly noteworthy that Ireland had taken a lead in setting standards for making cooking appliances safer for vulnerable users with diminished capacity and that these go beyond the essential requirements of the Gas Appliance Directive.

“Recent high profile incidents involving loss of life and serious injury have made more urgent the need to strengthen and augment existing legislative provisions in the area of gas safety,” Browne said.

“My department hopes to bring forward shortly legislative provisions, which include proposals for the regulation and certification of natural gas installers and are aimed at significantly enhancing the current arrangements for ensuring that natural gas customers and the public are safe with regard to the licensed activities of natural gas undertakings.”

The GTSC was formed in 1981 with the objective of advising the National Standards Authority of Ireland on what standards and codes of practice are necessary for products and processes used in the gas industry, with particular regard to safety.